Sports stadium developers sweeten projects with affordable housing to gain support

In recent years, sports stadium developers have been including affordable housing in their projects to win support from local governments and community activists.

Stadium projects in Brooklyn, N.Y., Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and St. Petersburg, Fla., have all been approved with community bargaining agreements (CBAs) that include a promise from the developer to add affordable housing to their developments. In return, the developer gets a fast-tracked approval process.

The track record of these agreements of actually yielding affordable housing is mixed.
The key for cities to realize the construction of affordable units is the inclusion of an enforcement mechanism in the agreement.

Without an enforceable agreement that includes milestones, the developer can choose to construct everything that is profitable first before creating affordable housing.